3D printing · process family

LOM / UAM

Sheet lamination · LOM · UAM

Bond sheets together and cut each layer to shape

The odd one out: instead of adding material a point or a road at a time, whole sheets are bonded on top of one another and each layer's outline is cut before or after bonding. With paper or plastic it is a cheap way to make big, full-colour models; with ultrasonically-welded metal foil (UAM) it can embed fibres, sensors and electronics between the layers and join dissimilar metals at low temperature.

bond · cut · stack
LOM / UAM — bond sheets together and cut each layer to shape.
0.05–0.2 mm sheets
Resolution
Fast (per layer)
Speed
$$
Cost
Poor (between sheets)
Isotropy

How it works

  1. 1
    A sheet of material (paper, plastic or metal foil) is laid over the build.
  2. 2
    It is bonded to the layer below — adhesive and heat (LOM) or ultrasonic welding (UAM).
  3. 3
    A blade or laser cuts this layer's outline (and cross-hatches the waste).
  4. 4
    The platform drops, a fresh sheet is fed, and the cycle repeats.
  5. 5
    The block is removed and the surrounding waste is peeled away ('decubing').

The machines

The variants of this family, from the hobby basics to the industrial state of the art.

LOM (paper / plastic)

Legacy / models

Glued, laser- or blade-cut sheets — cheap, fast, full-colour large models. Little used now but historically important.

UAM (ultrasonic metal)

Industrial (metal)

Ultrasonically welds metal foils at low temperature, so sensors, fibres and electronics can be embedded between layers and dissimilar metals joined.

Strengths & limits

Strengths
  • Cheap material; large parts fast (LOM)
  • Full colour (printed paper sheets)
  • Embeds sensors/fibres and joins dissimilar metals (UAM)
  • Low-temperature metal joining
Limits
  • Poor detail and anisotropic bond strength between sheets
  • A lot of waste material to remove (decubing)
  • Limited, niche material set
  • Largely superseded for polymers by FDM and powder processes

Typical parts & materials

Feedstock: Sheets: paper, plastic film or metal foil · Paper, plastics, metal foils.

Typical parts: Concept and architectural models (LOM), embedded-electronics and smart metal structures (UAM)

Commonly run in — open one for its cited properties:

Paper / plastic sheetAluminium / copper foil (UAM)

What's new

Polymer sheet lamination is mostly historical, but ultrasonic AM (UAM) keeps a real niche: embedding fibre-optic sensors and electronics inside solid metal, and joining metals that cannot be welded thermally.

Part of the 3D printing guide. Compare the other process families, see the design rules, or browse the cited materials database.